Results from the first field tests of the WISDOM GPR 2018 ExoMars Mission

Introduction: The WISDOM (Water Ice Subsur- face Deposit Observation on Mars) Ground Penetrating Radar(GPR) is one of the instruments that have been selected as part of the Pasteurpayload of ESA’s 2018 ExoMars Rover mission[1]. The Pasteurpayload actu- ally consists of two different sets of instruments: the Panoramic Instruments, which include a wide angle camera and the WISDOM radar, that will be used to perform large-scale scientific investigations of the landing site and the Analytical Laboratory Instruments that will analyze the core samplesobtained by the sub- surface drill. WISDOM will help identify the location of sedimentary layers, where organic molecules are the most likely to be found and well-preserved. WISDOM has been designed to investigate the near subsurface environment down to a depth of ~2-3 m with a vertical resolution of a few centimeters [2]. WISDOM is a step frequency radar operating over a wide frequency band between 0.5 and 3 GHz. Particular attention was paid to the design of the antenna system, which needs to be able to conduct polarimetric measurements over the whole bandwidth without significant distortion [3].